Editor's note: The location of the shark photo with this story was corrected. The shark was off Guadalupe Island, Mexico.

On a recent Monday morning, Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce CEO Wendy Northcross had just stepped out of a meeting to plan the shark section of next year's travel guide when her phone rang.

It was Richard Delaney, president and CEO of the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, wanting to know if she had seen any of the Cape Cod Great White Shark Safety brochures printed by a consortium of harbormasters and other mostly Lower Cape officials.

At the time, she hadn't. But for some, the brochures landed with a splash, raising concerns that the photographs would sensationalize sharks or take a bite out of business.

"I was told it had a 'Jaws'-esque cover picture," said Northcross. "The reality is, we have sharks, and there has to be some public information campaign. On the flip side, there's concern that sharks will be sensationalized or people will want to go on shark hunts."

After getting a look at the brochure Northcross said it wasn't as bad as she expected.

Concerns over the brochure underscore the delicate balance science, business and public safety officials look to strike on the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" issue of informing the public about the threat of sharks that have been drawn to hunt the area's booming seal population.

The 415,000 brochures were printed with $22,500 from the state Community Innovation Challenge program, which granted the money last year to a group of Cape towns to raise awareness of sharks and educate the public about safe practices in the event of a sighting. Working with the state Department of Transportation, the consortium spent another $15,000 in grant funding on signs alerting beachgoers to the presence of sharks and the threat of rip currents, among other dangers. The signs were placed at beaches on the Outer Cape.

"We're just trying to raise public awareness," said Nathan Sears, natural resources manager for Orleans, the lead agency in the group. "It's the reality of what's happening in our ocean at the moment. From a management perspective, making the public aware of the situation is our biggest tool."

Delaney said he appreciates much of the information in the pamphlet, including tips to not swim in deep water or close to seals and the fact that several shark species are considered threatened or endangered. But if he could change one part of the pamphlet, it would be the cover photograph, which he described as reminiscent of the movie "Jaws."

"The cover has an extra-mean, toothy picture of a shark," he said. "It's one more example of how we, as a society, have this general myth that these guys are big, nasty creatures."

He would also remove one sentence: "The only way to completely rule out a close encounter with a shark is to stay on shore."

"That one statement set off some peoples' alarms. But it's a good product for what it's intended to be. It may have gone a little too far by saying don't go in the water," Delaney said.

For Jeremy Gingras, executive director of the Harwich Chamber of Commerce, the pamphlets will serve as a "tool in the toolbox" for tourists who come with questions about sharks. But the shark pamphlets will be kept behind a desk rather than in public, next to brochures advertising beaches where there has never been a shark sighting, he said.

"Certainly, we view our beaches as safe beaches for people to swim, and the feeling in the brochures is they wouldn't be," Gingras said. "At first glance, it seems more like a warning than an informational pamphlet."

The town of Harwich has decided not to put up shark-warning signs at beaches unless they become necessary, perhaps in the event of a shark sighting or a rise in the town's seal population, said Selectman Peter Hughes.

"My concern was, in Harwich, if we don't have sightings or sharks, why are we putting these signs up to scare people off our beaches?" Hughes asked. "We will deploy them if and when we need to deploy them. We're going to wait and see if we need it."

With the grant funding, Sears said the communities unified their message, even though "there are currently no consistent outreach efforts for great white sharks occurring in Massachusetts," he wrote in an April letter sent to Tim Dodd, program manager in the state Executive Office for Administration and Finance.

"I'm not a biologist, but from what I understand, this is a hot spot for these animals," Sears said. "They're going to continue coming to these places."